Adding Gum Arabic To Fp Inks

[arkan15]

I'm new to dip pens but have been using fountain pens for a while and have loads and loads of FP ink. For flexible dip nibs, I understand that FP inks might be too runny and have excessive flow versus traditional dip pen calligraphy inks.

 

A couple of posts mentioned adding gum arabic to the FP ink in order to make it more suitable for dip pens. Anyone have experience doing this? Is there a preference for gum arabic powder or for gum arabic liquid? The liquid stuff seems to be used mainly for watercolors and paints but I imagine it might work for inks too.

 

Thanks!

-Jason

[pharmacist]

Hi Jason,

 

I have been making my own iron gall ink after much experimenting and discovered that my iron gall ink strangely enough flows very well from fountain pen. My first iron gall ink (Urkundentinte) is actually much wetter and flows better in all of my fountain pens, including my extreme dry writing MB Nobless Oblige, which actually refuses to write with MB's own branded ink (Midnight Blue IG). I could tame this annoyingly dry writing MB fountain pen with my own home-brewed IG ink.

 

Because I also wanted to make this free flowing iron gall ink to be used with dip pens, I was first considering to add gum arabic to tame the flow, but I discovered the ink sticks perfectly to the nib of any dip pen I have used. It can create extremely fine hair lines without dropping on the paper. If I use a commercial fountain pen ink, the ink will flow too fast and often blobs on the paper surface.

 

I have discovered this special flowing property (flowing well from fountain pen nibs as well sticking perfeclty to dip nibs as well) can also be found in my other home-brewed iron gall inks, without the need of adding gum arabic or other thickeners.

 

Best regards,

 

Nelson

[arkan15]

Hi Jason,

 

I have been making my own iron gall ink after much experimenting and discovered that my iron gall ink strangely enough flows very well from fountain pen. My first iron gall ink (Urkundentinte) is actually much wetter and flows better in all of my fountain pens, including my extreme dry writing MB Nobless Oblige, which actually refuses to write with MB's own branded ink (Midnight Blue IG). I could tame this annoyingly dry writing MB fountain pen with my own home-brewed IG ink.

 

Because I also wanted to make this free flowing iron gall ink to be used with dip pens, I was first considering to add gum arabic to tame the flow, but I discovered the ink sticks perfectly to the nib of any dip pen I have used. It can create extremely fine hair lines without dropping on the paper. If I use a commercial fountain pen ink, the ink will flow too fast and often blobs on the paper surface.

 

I have discovered this special flowing property (flowing well from fountain pen nibs as well sticking perfeclty to dip nibs as well) can also be found in my other home-brewed iron gall inks, without the need of adding gum arabic or other thickeners.

 

Best regards,

 

Nelson

 

Hi Nelson,

Hmmm, I've never tried iron-gall inks before on account of hearing that it increases pen maintenance but I'm curious about how well they work. Could you post or send me a writing sample and some details about the ink? Thanks! Let me know if you want to do this over email and I will PM you my email address.

 

-Jason

[pharmacist]

Tomorrow I will take some time to brew a new batch of several of my own formulated iron gall inks. After brewing the ink needs a week of ripening and afterwards filtering. Freshly prepared iron gall ink does not flow well from the nib, hence the necessity of ripening. You might have a search on this forum using the search arguments: Pharmacist, Urkundentinte, Turkish Night, Darkening Absinthe, Oriens-Occidens, Purpura Imperialis, Sang Real, Terra Incinerata and iron gall ink.

 

I will first deal with the ones on top of the waiting list, as stock per batch is limited (first in, first out ). Making these inks is actually very labor intensive unfortunately, so I can make only relatively small batches every few months. .

 

For you (and those interested) please contact me via PM for details how to get these inks.

Edited April 6, 2013 by pharmacist

[Mickey]

 

Because I also wanted to make this free flowing iron gall ink to be used with dip pens, I was first considering to add gum arabic to tame the flow, but I discovered the ink sticks perfectly to the nib of any dip pen I have used. It can create extremely fine hair lines without dropping on the paper. If I use a commercial fountain pen ink, the ink will flow too fast and often blobs on the paper surface.

 

I have discovered this special flowing property (flowing well from fountain pen nibs as well sticking perfeclty to dip nibs as well) can also be found in my other home-brewed iron gall inks, without the need of adding gum arabic or other thickeners.

 

 

I've had a chance to try your inks, via Pen Posse. I love the colors and if I needed of another IG ink for one my fountain pens, I would be sorely tempted to order either the Turkish or the Absinthe ink. Well done! BUT, with all due respect, after trying them with dip pens, I have to say they do not provide the sort of performance I routinely get from Old World or McCaffery's Iron Gall inks. Your inks are, in contrast to most FP inks, quite useable* with dip nibs as is and, with a fair dollop of gum Arabic, I firmly believe they would provide the sort of performance I expect. In fact, were I to purchase any of your inks, it would be with the clear intent to doctor them a bit and dip them from an ink well. I would even go so far as to suggest that anyone interested in some handsome colors from their dip pens do exactly that.

 

BTW, I recently made my first batch of IG ink, using Rooibos, pharmaceutical grade Ferrous Sulphate, and Gum Arabic. I used no additional dye, relying on the natural color of the Rooibos to make the ink visible before the iron darkens. The result, after a week to 'ripen,' is a medium density, slightly cold brown ink that is definitely water fast and (so far) resistant to sunlight. No holes in the paper have been discovered yet, but if any appear in the near future, I'll throw a couple of egg shells in the next batch.

 

* On my very unofficial scale, this is high praise. I find most FP inks straight out of the bottle to be utterly useless with dip pens.

[pharmacist]

Because I also wanted to make this free flowing iron gall ink to be used with dip pens, I was first considering to add gum arabic to tame the flow, but I discovered the ink sticks perfectly to the nib of any dip pen I have used. It can create extremely fine hair lines without dropping on the paper. If I use a commercial fountain pen ink, the ink will flow too fast and often blobs on the paper surface.

 

I have discovered this special flowing property (flowing well from fountain pen nibs as well sticking perfeclty to dip nibs as well) can also be found in my other home-brewed iron gall inks, without the need of adding gum arabic or other thickeners.

 

 

I've had a chance to try your inks, via Pen Posse. I love the colors and if I needed of another IG ink for one my fountain pens, I would be sorely tempted to order either the Turkish or the Absinthe ink. Well done! BUT, with all due respect, after trying them with dip pens, I have to say they do not provide the sort of performance I routinely get from Old World or McCaffery's Iron Gall inks. Your inks are, in contrast to most FP inks, quite useable* with dip nibs as is and, with a fair dollop of gum Arabic, I firmly believe they would provide the sort of performance I expect. In fact, were I to purchase any of your inks, it would be with the clear intent to doctor them a bit and dip them from an ink well. I would even go so far as to suggest that anyone interested in some handsome colors from their dip pens do exactly that.

 

BTW, I recently made my first batch of IG ink, using Rooibos, pharmaceutical grade Ferrous Sulphate, and Gum Arabic. I used no additional dye, relying on the natural color of the Rooibos to make the ink visible before the iron darkens. The result, after a week to 'ripen,' is a medium density, slightly cold brown ink that is definitely water fast and (so far) resistant to sunlight. No holes in the paper have been discovered yet, but if any appear in the near future, I'll throw a couple of egg shells in the next batch.

 

* On my very unofficial scale, this is high praise. I find most FP inks straight out of the bottle to be utterly useless with dip pens.

 

Hi Mickey,

 

Presuming you are talking about writing Copperplate with dip nibs...yes: adding gum arabic is advisory to get the best results. Just writing with normal writing dip nibs iron gall inks will perform very well. I am actually using a dutch type of dip nib called "Kroontjespen", which works very well with my own inks. I also tried the French nib "Balloon", which writes satisfactory, but not as good as with the "Kroontjespen" nib. With one dip I can write 5 lines, before I need a redip in the ink well.

 

Could it be that the combination of nib and ink can alter the writing properties using a particular type of ink ? I once tried chinese ink (soot/pure carbon) and it somehow flows much more reliable and consistent with the "Balloon" nib compared to the dutch "Kroontjespen" nib.

[Mickey]

 

Hi Mickey,

 

Presuming you are talking about writing Copperplate with dip nibs...yes: adding gum arabic is advisory to get the best results. Just writing with normal writing dip nibs iron gall inks will perform very well. I am actually using a dutch type of dip nib called "Kroontjespen", which works very well with my own inks. I also tried the French nib "Balloon", which writes satisfactory, but not as good as with the "Kroontjespen" nib. With one dip I can write 5 lines, before I need a redip in the ink well.

 

Could it be that the combination of nib and ink can alter the writing properties using a particular type of ink ? I once tried chinese ink (soot/pure carbon) and it somehow flows much more reliable and consistent with the "Balloon" nib compared to the dutch "Kroontjespen" nib.

 

You bet. Horses for course. I definitely fine tune the ink pot for the pen I'm using. (Usually, I just dilute or add more ink.) The Zebra Tama works pretty well with FP inks, but doesn't put down enough ink with many dip ink. With manga or sumi ink, however, the Tama is puts down a very fine, very visible line, without being at all scratchy. (It's a waverly-style point).

 

You presumed almost correctly. My bent is Spencerian rather than Copperplate, but the issues are similar.

[DanF]

I have never actually measured the amount of gum arabic added to ink (using liquid Windsor and Newton gum arabic), just start with about 1/4 bottle of ink and pour a relatively small amount of ga into it, stir, and check the results. You should notice reduced flow, and better milage per dip.

 

I once saw a reference of adding 10 to 15 drop of ga into one bottle of Higgins Eternal ink, which behaves a little better than most fountain pen inks to begin with, so you might use that for guidance. The good news is that there are no ill effects from adding too much, and you can always dilute with more ink or even water if you think you have added too much. Just don't ever load the treated ink into a fountain pen, and clearly mark the new container to avoid such an accident.

 

Dan